TED: Tenders Electronic Daily
TED (ted.europa.eu) is the official procurement publication platform for above-threshold public contracts across the EU and EEA. It is managed by the Publications Office of the European Union and publishes the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union. For any firm seeking to bid on EU contracts let by member state contracting authorities, TED is the primary authoritative source.
TED publishes over 700,000 procurement notices per year, spanning prior information notices, contract notices, contract award notices, and corrigenda. Notices appear as soon as they are published in the Official Journal and are searchable immediately. The publication frequency is several times per week.
What TED covers
TED covers contracts that exceed the EU public procurement thresholds established in Directive 2014/24/EU (classical sector), Directive 2014/25/EU (utilities), and Directive 2014/23/EU (concessions). These thresholds are revised every two years. At the 2024 to 2025 revision:
- Services and supplies for central government authorities: approximately EUR 144,000
- Services and supplies for sub-central authorities and other public bodies: approximately EUR 221,000
- Services and supplies for utilities: approximately EUR 443,000
- Works contracts: approximately EUR 5,538,000
Contracts below these thresholds are subject to national rules and may not appear on TED, though many member states publish them voluntarily. EU institutional procurement is also published on TED; look for notices where the contracting authority is listed as a European institution or agency.
How to search TED effectively
The most reliable way to search TED is by CPV (Common Procurement Vocabulary) code rather than by keyword. CPV codes are the standardised classification system applied to every EU public contract notice. The full CPV tree has over 9,000 categories; each is a nine-digit code structured hierarchically from broad division to specific product or service.
Relevant CPV divisions for consulting and advisory services include:
- 73000000: Research and development, and related consultancy services
- 79000000: Business services, including law, marketing, and consulting
- 75000000: Administration, defence, social security, education, health services
- 85000000: Health and social work services
- 79400000: Business and management consultancy and related services
To set up a TED alert: go to ted.europa.eu, configure a search using your target CPV codes, countries, and procedure type, then use the Save Search function to register an email alert. Alerts are free and require no account. Saved searches can be refined over time; a well-constructed alert significantly reduces the manual monitoring burden.
EU Funding and Tenders Portal
The EU Funding and Tenders Portal (ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal) is the European Commission's centralised platform for managing both grants and procurement let directly by EU institutions. It replaced several earlier systems and is now the single point of entry for calls managed by the Commission, executive agencies, and EU bodies.
What it covers
The portal covers an extremely broad range of Commission-managed instruments:
- Horizon Europe: EU research and innovation funding, including grants and procurement for research infrastructure
- INTPA and DG NEAR procurement: service, supply, and works contracts for external action programmes, above the PRAG publication threshold
- DG ENV, DG CLIMA, DG DEVCO: thematic service contracts and studies let directly by Commission DGs
- EU agency procurement: contracts let by executive agencies such as EISMEA, REA, HaDEA, and CINEA
- EU institutional service contracts: IT, communication, legal, and support service contracts from DGs across the Commission
The portal distinguishes between open calls (active tendering), forthcoming calls (pipeline notices), and closed calls. Use the filter to separate procurement notices from grant calls — they are managed through the same system but require different submission approaches.
Registration and submission
Searching and browsing the portal is open to anyone. Submitting a tender or grant proposal requires two steps: an EU Login account (formerly ECAS) and registration of your organisation to obtain a nine-digit Participant Identification Code (PIC). PIC registration is done once through the Participant Register and is valid across all Commission programmes. Keep your organisation's legal, financial, and contact data current in the register; outdated information can cause problems at eligibility check stage.
For eTendering — submitting procurement bids electronically through the portal — follow the procurement notice's specific instructions. Submission deadlines are precise and the system does not accept late submissions. Allow time for upload, especially for large technical files with CVs and methodology annexes.
INTPA and NEAR procurement portals
EU external action contracts managed by DG INTPA and DG NEAR sit at the intersection of several overlapping publication channels. Understanding which channel covers which type of contract avoids missed opportunities.
DG INTPA
DG INTPA manages contracts financed under NDICI-Global Europe (the EU's primary external financing instrument from 2021 to 2027) and the European Development Fund. Headquarters-managed contracts are published on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal and simultaneously on TED for above-threshold amounts. The INTPA section of the International Partnerships website (international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu) also lists active calls, framework contracts, and publication notices, and is a useful secondary check.
Contracts managed by EU Delegations in partner countries are published on the individual Delegation's website under the procurement or tenders section. These Delegation-managed contracts follow the same PRAG procedures but are administered locally. Scanning the website of the Delegation covering your target country or region is an additional monitoring task that TED and the portal alone will not fully cover.
DG NEAR
DG NEAR manages the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA III), covering Western Balkans, Turkey, and the neighbourhood to the east and south. NEAR procurement follows the same PRAG procedures as INTPA and is published through the same channels: the EU Funding and Tenders Portal for Headquarters-managed contracts, and individual Delegation and National Authority websites for locally managed contracts.
Contract types under PRAG
PRAG distinguishes three main contract types for external action:
- Service contracts: consultancy, technical assistance, advisory, evaluation, and study assignments. The most common type for consulting firms and NGOs bidding on EU external action work.
- Supply contracts: purchase of goods, equipment, and materials. Subject to different PRAG procedures and evaluation criteria.
- Works contracts: civil engineering and construction. Managed through separate procedures with different technical qualification requirements.
PRAG service contract thresholds determine the procedure type: international open tender for EUR 300,000 and above, simplified procedure for EUR 20,000 to below EUR 300,000. Knowing the threshold helps you judge whether a contract will have a formal published competition or a restricted shortlisting call. For a detailed explanation of framework contracts under these rules, see our guide to EU framework contract support.
Commercial aggregators: Devex and DG Market
Commercial aggregators collect procurement notices from multiple official sources and supplement them with market intelligence, company news, and competitive context. They are not authoritative publication points — they republish notices from TED, UNGM, and other official portals — but they add value through curation, early-warning alerts, and searchability across donor systems simultaneously.
Devex
Devex (devex.com) is the most widely used intelligence platform in the international development sector. It aggregates procurement and grant opportunities from EU, USAID, World Bank, DFID successors, UN agencies, and regional development banks. Its strongest value-add is competitive intelligence: profiles of companies winning contracts, project news, and donor strategy coverage. For EU procurement specifically, Devex overlaps significantly with what TED and the INTPA portal already provide. Its subscription cost is justified if your pipeline spans multiple donors and you want a single alert system, or if you use its company-tracking and market-intelligence features actively.
DG Market (dgmarket.com)
DG Market aggregates public procurement notices from World Bank, EU, UN, and numerous national procurement portals across developing countries. Coverage is particularly strong for World Bank-financed contracts and development bank tenders outside the EU procurement framework. For firms active in partner countries where EU Delegations and bilateral donors both procure local services, DG Market provides broader coverage than TED or UNGM alone. It is a subscription service, and coverage quality varies by country and sector.
How aggregators fit into a pipeline workflow
Aggregators are most useful at two stages: early market scanning (before specific bids are identified) and competitive intelligence (understanding who else operates in a given sector or country). They should not replace direct monitoring of TED and the EU Funding and Tenders Portal. Official portals are authoritative; aggregators can miss notices, republish them with delays, or contain errors in translated or extracted data. Any opportunity identified through an aggregator should be verified against the original official source before a bid decision is made.
How to use the portals together
Each portal covers a distinct segment of the market. An effective pipeline monitoring system uses them in combination rather than relying on one source.
| Portal | Primary coverage | Best use |
|---|---|---|
| TED | Above-threshold EU member state procurement + EU institutional contracts | Authoritative alerts by CPV code for member state and EU institution contracts |
| EU Funding and Tenders Portal | Commission-managed grants and procurement (Horizon, INTPA HQ, DG-led) | Submit bids electronically; monitor Commission-managed calls directly |
| International Partnerships / INTPA site | INTPA framework contracts and external action notices | Monitor FWC calls and external action service contract opportunities |
| EU Delegation websites | Delegation-managed contracts in partner countries | Monitor country-specific markets not fully covered by TED or the portal |
| Devex / DG Market | Multi-donor aggregation with competitive intelligence | Early-warning across donors; company tracking; competitive analysis |
A practical pipeline workflow: set TED alerts for the CPV codes relevant to your sectors, monitor the EU Funding and Tenders Portal weekly for Commission-managed calls, check the INTPA International Partnerships page monthly for framework contract publication notices, and supplement with Devex if your pipeline spans multiple donors.
For support in building a pipeline monitoring system or identifying specific opportunities across these portals, see our EU bid support services or get in touch. For guidance on how to qualify a specific opportunity before committing to a bid, see our article on when to walk away from an EU tender.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between TED and the EU Funding and Tenders Portal?
TED is the publication platform for above-threshold procurement by EU member state contracting authorities, plus EU institutional contracts. The EU Funding and Tenders Portal is the Commission's own management platform for grants and procurement it manages directly. For INTPA and NEAR external action contracts, both are relevant: above-threshold calls are published on both TED and the Funding and Tenders Portal, and submissions go through the portal's eTendering system.
Do I need to register to search TED?
No. TED is publicly accessible without registration. You can search, set up email alerts, and download notices freely. Submitting a tender through the Commission's eTendering system requires an EU Login account and a registered organisation PIC number.
What is a CPV code and why does it matter for TED searches?
CPV (Common Procurement Vocabulary) codes classify procurement notices by subject matter using a standardised nine-digit hierarchy. Searching by CPV code is more reliable than keyword search because the same service type can be described in many different ways, but will consistently carry the same CPV code. Set TED alerts by CPV code rather than free text to reduce missed notices and false positives.
Where are INTPA and NEAR tenders published?
INTPA and NEAR tenders above EUR 300,000 are published on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal and on TED. Contracts managed by EU Delegations in partner countries are published on the relevant Delegation's website under its procurement section. Framework contract calls go through both TED and the International Partnerships website at international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu.
Is Devex worth subscribing to for EU contract intelligence?
Devex adds value primarily as a competitive intelligence tool and multi-donor early-warning platform. For EU procurement specifically, TED and the INTPA portal are the authoritative and free primary sources; Devex supplements them with context and market intelligence. Whether the subscription is justified depends on how broadly you track donors and how actively you use the competitive intelligence features.